Station-indicator and similar device.



Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

2 SHE'lIS-BHEET 1.

A .3, ,A y 7g P. N.'STOWBY & E.. M. HATCH. STATION INDIOATOR AND SIMILAR DEVICE.

A APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1910. 974,537.

Rs co., wAsmNaroN. n. c.

P. N. STOWBYL E. M. HATCH.

STATION INDICATOR AND SIMILAR DEVISE.

APPLIOATION FILBD AUG. 18, 1910.

Patented N0v.1,1910.

2 SHEETS-*SHEET 2.

UNITEDy STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER N. STOWBY AND ERNEST M. HATCH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS OF THREE-FOURTHS TO PETER N. STOWBY AND ONE-FOURTH TO ERNEST M. HATCH,

BOTH OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

STATION-INDICATOR AND SIMILAR DEVICE.

To 4all whom 'it may concern:

y is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formlng a part thereof.

Our invention relates to improvements in station indicators and similar devices for successively exhibiting signs, legends, and the like, and consists in many novel details of construction and combinations of parts, such as will be fully pointed out hereinafter, and in order that our invention may be thoroughly understood, we will now proceed to describe a structure constituting an embodiment thereof, having reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating the same, and will then point out the novel features in claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a face view of a station indicator constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same with the end casing head removed. Fig. 3 is a detail view in central vertical longitudinal section upon the plane of the line 3--3 of Fig. 2. Fig. l is a detail sectional view of a friction connection employed. Fig. 5 1s a central transverse sectional view through the machine. Fig. 6 is a view in elevation of the other end of the machine from that which is shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a detail view in vertical longitudinal section upon the plane of the line 7 7 of Fig. 6.

In general the machine is of rectangular form having a rectangular framing l0 upon which is mounted an exterior casing comprising side elements ll-ll, top and bottom elements 12-13, and end heads or elements 111-15. Therevare also two transverse partitions 16--17 secured to the framing 10 in proximity to the end heads 141-15 respectively and constituting means by which the mechanism is supported.

In Figs. 2 and 6 the end heads 14-15 of the casing are removed disclosing the partitions 16-17 respectively, together with Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led August 18, 1910.

Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

Serial No. 577,796.

those parts supported thereby which appear between the said partitions and the said end heads 111-15. Between the two partitions 16 and 17 are located the supply and takeup roll's for strips bearing the names of the stations to be indicated, and other strips carrying advertising matter, together with'feed rollers therefor, as follows: In the upper part of the machine there are two rollers l 8-18 arranged symmetrically upon either s1de of the central longitudinal plane of the machine, and two similar rollers 19--19 arranged beneath them and likewise symmetrically disposed upon opposite sides of the said central plane. that the machine is in general formed of two parts which are substantial duplicates of each other, each part being arranged' upon opposite sides of the said central plane of the machine and that each part is intended to act as an indicator so that a similar indication will appear upon either side of the machine. By this means the machine may be used in a central position in a car, for instance, and may be viewed from either side thereof.

Each of the rollers 18-l8 constitutes either a supply or a take-u means for an 1nd1cating strip 20 connected thereto, while the rollers 19-19 are adapted for a similar purpose. Foi' facilitating the description we will, for the present, designate the rollers 18-18 as the take-up rollers and the rollers 19-19 as the supply rollers because as indicated in the drawings the parts are so adjusted, but as will presently appear the functions of these rollers may be reversed at will. The strips 20 pass from the supply rollers 19 over` direction rollers 2l-21, thence upward in proximity to the inner face of the side casing elements 11, thence over feed rollers 22, and thence back to the take-up rollers lf3-18. The end casing elements 11 have openings or windows,

23 therein in line with the portions of the strips 20 between the direction and feed rollers 21-22 through which the strip may be viewed, and it is understood that the strip 20 will bear thereon in succession the names of the stations, streets or the like to be indicated. In Fig. 1 the legend Fulton St. appears through the window 23 of the It may be here noted side of the casing 1l upon one side of the machine, such legend being upon a portion of the strip 20 viewed through the window.

The lower portion of the machine contains a'pair of rollers 24-24 corresponding to the rollers 18-18, another pair of rollers 25-25 correspondingto the rollers 19-19, direction rollers 26 corresponding to the direction rollers 21, and feed rollers 27-27 corresponding to the feed rollers 22-22. Strips 28 28 corresponding to the lstrips 20 pass over the direction and feed rollers 26 and 27 and are connected at their opposite ends with the rollers 24-25 respectively. The rollers 24-24 are adapted to act either as take-up or supply rollers as are also the rollers 25425 as has been described in connection with the rollers 18-18, 19-19, but for simplicity of description we will at present refer to the rollers 24-24 as the take-up rollers and the rollers 25-25 as the supply rollers in the same manner as we have so designated the rollers 18-18. 19-19 respectively. The strips 28 are intended to bear upon the face thereof, suitable' advertising matter which may be viewed through windows 29 in the lower portion of the side casing elements 11 as appears in Fig. 1.

For-the purpose of moving the strips 20-28 longitudinally so as to bring didierent legends successively opposite the windows 23-29, we provide means for imparting predetermined movements of rotation to the feedv rollers 22 and 27, and means for rotating the take-up rollers an amount suficient to take-up the portion of the strip thus fed forward, the supply rollers permitting a corresponding portion of the said strips to be fed forward by the said feed rollers. The feed rollers having a predetermined movement of rotation feed a uniform predetermined quantity of the strip forward, while lost motion .is permitted between the driving means and the take-up rollers so that Vwhile the amount fed I forward is always taken up, an excess movement of the take-up rollers may be permitted, whereby the varying diameters of the feed rolls as the amount taken up thereby increases will be compensatedfor.

The operating means for the feed rollers will be best understood by reference to Figs. 5, 6, and 7. This operating means comprises a main shaft 30 extending longitudinally through the center of the machine, means for imparting a predetermined movement of rotation in one direction to the said shaft, and gearing connecting the said shaft with the said feed rollers. The gearing connection is as follows: At the end of the said shaft 30 is a bevel gear wheel 31, the teeth of which are disposed in mesh with a bevel gear pinion 32. The said bevel gear pinion 35 at the upper and lower ends thereof respectively. The teeth of the miter gear 34 are arranged in mesh with the teeth of a complementary miter gear 36 upon a horizontal shaft 37, while the teeth of the miter y gear 35 are disposed in mesh with the teeth of a complementary miter gear 3S upon a horizontal shaft 39. The horizontal shafts 87 and 39 are connected to short shaft sections 40-'40, 41441 respectively, being secured to rotate therewith, but the connection being such as to permit limited longitudinal movement of the shafts 37 and 39 with respect to the said shaft sections 40-40, 41 4l. The shaft sections 40 40 are provided at their outer ends with bevel gear wheels 42, the teeth of which are arranged in mesh with complementary bevel 43-43 disposed upon the shafts of the feed rollers 22-22, while the shaft sections 41-41 are similarly provided with bevel gear wheels 44-44, the teeth of which are disposed in mesh with the teeth of complementary bevel gear wheels 45-45 secured to the shafts of the feed rollers 27-27.

The foregoing train of gearing issuch that if movements of rotation be imparted to the shaft 30 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 6, corresponding feeding movements will be imparted to the feeding rollers 22-22, 27-27 in a direction to cause the strips 20-28 to travel upward. As we have made the lower openings or windows 29 larger than the openings or windows 23, a greater feeding movement will be required for the strips 28 than for the strips 20, but this is taken care of in the relative size of the gear wheels 44 with respect to the gear wheels 45, the ratio thereof being greater than that of the gear wheels 42 with respect to the gear wheels 43.

The required movements of rotation may be given to the shaft 30 by any suitable means and as an example thereof we have shown a hand operated lever 46 which carries a pawl 47 in engagement with the teeth of a ratchet wheel 48 secured fast upon the shaft 30. In this arrangement a single gear wheelsdownward movement of the lever 46 will impart the predetermined and required movement of rotation to the shaft 30, while the return movement will be accomplished without any movement of the shaft, the pawl at such times passing freely over the teeth of the ratchet wheel. It will of course be understood that the lever 46 may be operated by hand or other power as may be desired.

The means for effecting the take-up of the strips as they are fed forward, that is to say, for rotating the take-up rollers 18 and' v to the take-up rollers.

24 to an extent sufficient to take up the slack produced by the rotative movements of the feed rollers 22-27, is provided as follows. This means is located at the opposite end of the machine to which the feed roller operating means is located, as will be seen by reference to Figs. 2 and 3. The shaft 30 is provided with a driving sprocket wheel 49, a sprocket chain 50 being arranged in operative engagement therewith. rlhis sprocket chain passes over and around a plurality of sprocket wheels 3l-51, :S2-52, the sprocket wheels 52-52 being arranged at the upper part of the machine for imparting movements to the take-up rollers -l8-18, and the sprocket wheels 52 being arranged at the lower part of the machine for imparting driving movements for the take-up rollers 2li-24. Secured fast to the sprocket wheels 51-51 are spur gears 53-53, the teeth of which are disposed in mesh with the teeth of pinions 54-54 located upon the journals of the take-up rollers 18-18. Similar spur gears are secured to rotate with the sprocket wheels 5252, the teeth of the said spur gears beingin mesh with the teeth of pinions 56-56 disposed upon the journals of the take-up rollers 24-24.

lVhen a suitable movement of rotation isl given 'to the shaft 30 as above described to effect the proper feeding movements of the rollers, the several sprocket wheels just described will be likewise rotated to thereby impart movements in the proper direction Approximately the proper speed of rotation is imparted to the said rollers, the ratio between the spur gears 55 and the pinions 56 being greater than that between the spur gears 53 and the pinions 54 for the purpose of giving the greater proportional movement to the lower take-up rolls 24 because of the fact as above described that a greater quantity of the strips 2S than of the strips 20 is fed forward at a time. Because, however, the diameter of the take-up rolls (such expression being here intended to include the rollers and the portions of the strip wound thereon at the time) varies, being smallest when the strips are first being Wound thereon and greatest when the strips have been completely wound thereon, we so arrange the gearing that the movements of the rollers will be sufficient to take up all the slack for any movement of the feed rollers when the diameter of the takeup'rolls is the smallest, and in connection therewith we provide means for permitting lost motion to compensate for the excess movement of the take-up rolls as the diameter thereof increases. This means consists in a frictional connection between the pin-4 The pinions instead of being secured fast upon the journals of the take-up rollers are mounted freely thereon and are provided with friction washers 57 arranged to frictionally engage the face of friction disks 58 and these friction disks are themselves secured fast upon the journals of the said take-up rollers. The friction engagement between the washers 57 and the disks 58 is suflicient to keep the strips 20-28 taut between the take-up rollers 18-24 and the feed rollers .2Q-27, but will provide for the lost motion required to compensate for the excess movements of the pinions as aforesaid.

The foregoing is a complete description of the operation of the machine to effect the movements of the strip in one direction, but in View of the requirement set forth at the beginning of this specilication that the strips may be caused to move in either direction, we will now describe means whereby the strips may be moved in the direction opposite to that just described and the means for shifting the operating mechanism to its new position for this purpose. Going back to the means for operating the feed rolls, which means is shown more particularly in Figs. G and 7, the shafts 37 and 39 are provided in addition to the miter gears 36 and 38, with miter gears 59 59. Vhen the parts are adjusted to the positions in which they have been described above, these miter gears 59 and 59 are arranged to revolve freely, being spaced from the miter gear. wheels 36 and 38 a dist-ance greater than the diameter of the miter gears 34 and upon the vertical shaft 33. When, however, it is desired to reverse the driving relation, the shafts 37 and 39 may be moved bodily, the former to the left and the latter to the right as viewed in Fig. 6, whereby the miter gear wheels 36--38 may be disengaged from the miter gear wheels 34 and 35, and the miter gear wheels 59 and 59 engaged therewith, as will be readily understood by reference to Fig. G. When such engagement is effected the same direction of rotation of the operating shaft 30 and hence of the vertical shaft 33 will produce a reverse movement of rotation of the horizontal shafts 37 and 89 and hence a reverse direction of movement of the feed rollers 22 and 27. The limited longitudinal movements of the shafts 87-39 required to effect the foregoing change in relation of the parts is permitted without any corresponding longitudinal movement of the shafts 40-40, 41-41. by reason of the sliding coupling connections heretofore referred to. The required longitudinal movements are imparted to the shafts 37-39 by means of a hand lever 60 pivoted at 61 to the framework of the machine, one end thereof being operatively connected with a rocking lever' 79 mounted upon a central pivot 62. rl`his rocking lever is connected at its upper and lower ends with blocks 63 and 64 (see particularly Fig. 7) carried by the shafts 37 and 39. To reverse the operation of the feed rollers it is merely necessary then to shift the hand lever from its position upon one side of its center of oscillation to a corresponding position upon the other side.

Now referring to the means for operating the take-up rollers (see particularly Figs. 2 and 3) it will be seen that the sprocket wheels 51-51, 52-52 with their spur gears 53-53, 55-55 instead of being journaled upon a stationary portion, are journaled upon arms (S5-66 pivotally mounted upon studs (S7-67, 68 G8. At their inner ends the said arms are pivotally connected to a vertically movable slide 69, the said slide being adapted to be moved from the position in which it is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 to a position wherein the arms 655-65, 66- 66 will be rocked to an extent sufficient to disengage the spur gears S3- 53, 55-55 from the pinions 54-54, 56-56 and to cause them to intermesh in lieu thereof with pinions 70-70, 71-71 mounted upon the journals of the rollers 19-19, 25-25 respectively. When therefore the slide is moved to the upper-position just stated, driving movements will be imparted to the rollers 19-19, 25-25 instead of the rollers 18-18, 24-24 and under these conditions the rollers 19-19, 25-25 will act as take-up rollers, the rollers 18-18, 24-24. at such time acting merely as supply rollers to deliver portions of the strips as called for by the rotation of the feed rollers. It will be noted that the slide 69 carries an idle sprocket wheel 72 in engagement with the chain 50 whereby a substantially uniform tension is maintained upon the chain in the different positions of the slide. The slide may be moved from one position to another by any suitable means, and as a simple and convenient form of such means we have shown a hand wheel 73 upon the exterior of the machine, the same being mounted upon a short shaft 74 carrying a bevel gear 7 5, the teeth of which are disposed in mesh with the teeth of a complementary bevel gear 7 6 secured upon a vert-ical spindle 77. The vertical spindle 77 is screwthreaded and engages a nut 78 extending from the rear of the said slide 69. The rotation of the hand wheel 73 in one direction or the other is all that is necessary t-o move the slide from one of its positions to the other, as will be well understood.

From the foregoing it will be clear that when, say, for instance, the station indicator herein described is carried by a car and the end of the line is reached, the wheel 73 will be manipulated to reverse the position of the slide and the lever 60 thrown to the opposite position so that upon the return of the car the indicating means will operate in the opposite direction.

Vfhat we claim is: l

1. The combination with a casing substantially rectangular in form, the said casing comprising side, top and bottom elements, and end heads, of two partitions one in proximity to each of the said end heads for dividing the interior of the casing in three chambers, exhibition strips located in the central chamber, feed, take-up and supply rollers for the said exhibition strips all located in the said central chamber, an operating element, means operated thereby and located in one of the end chambers for imparting movements in either direction to the said feed rollers, and means located in the other end chamber for imparting movements to the said supply and take-up rollers alternatively, the said casinghaving openings e therein, and the said strips being arranged to move in proximity to the said openings whereby portions thereof may be viewed through the said openings.

2. The combination with a casing having two openings therein one of greater width than the other, of two exhibiting strips arranged to travel in proximity to the said openings whereby they may be viewed therethrough, feed rollers for the said ex-V hibiting strips, other rollers to which the ends of the said strips are connected and which are adapted to act as take-up and supply rollers for the said strips, means for imparting movements in either direction to the said feed rollers for each of the said strips, the extent of movement imparted to one of the said strips being in excess of thatl imparted to the other said strip, means for imparting movements to those of the other said rollers which at the time act as take-up rollers, the extent of movement so imparted being slightly in excess of that necessary to take up the amount of the strip fed by the feed rollers and being greater in respect to the strip to which the greater movement is given than to the strip to which the less movement is given, the last said means in cluding frictional connections permitting lost motion to compensate for such excess movements, a single operating element for both of the movement imparting means, and reversing means for changing the direction of movements imparted to the said feeding rollers for feeding the strips.

3. The combination with a casing, of two pairs of rollers, the rollers of each pair being arranged horizontally in line with each other and the said pairs being arranged vertically one above the other, each of the four said rollers being provided with pinions,l of driving means therefor comprising two' spur gears, one arranged between the pinions of the upper and lower rollers of each pair but of such a diameter that they can be in mesh with the pinions of the upper or lower pair only and not with the pinions of both the said pairs at one time, pivoted arms carrying the said spur gears, a vertically movable slide to which both the said arms are connected, and means for moving the said slide vertically to change the position of the spur gears so that they will intermesh with the inions of either the said upper or lower paar of rollers, an operating shaft, a sprocket wheel upon the said operating shaft, a sprocket chain in engagement therewith, sprocket wheels connected with the said spur gears, the said sprocket chain being also in engagement with the latter said sprocket wheels, exhibiting strips having their opposite ends connected with the said rollers, feed rollers for the said exhibiting strips, means for operating the said feed rollers from the said operating shaft, and reversing means for the movements imparted to the said feed rollers upon a movement always in one direction of t-he said operating shaft. I

4. The combination with a substantially rectangular casing comprising side elements, top and bottom elements and end heads, each of the side elements having exhibiting openings therein, the upper exhibiting openings being of lesser width than the lower exhibiting openings, and two partitions one located in proximity to each of the end heads, the said partitions dividing the interior of the casing into three chambers, of a central operating shaft supported by the said' partitions and extending through the central chamber into both of the end chambers, two pairs of rollers in the upper portion of the central chamber, arranged horizontally and immediately one above the other, the said upper and lower pairs being arranged to alternatively constitute take-up and supply rollers, exhibiting strips having their opposite ends connected to the said rollers, feed and direction rollers for the said strips arranged to guide portions thereof in proximity to the upper openings in the side casing elements, similar' feed and takeup rollers, strips, and direction and feed rollers for the lower portion of the casing, the feed and take-up rollers arranged to guide portions of the lat-ter said strips in proximity to the lower casing openings, movement transmitting means contained in one of the said end chambers for transmitting movements from the said operating shaft to the said feed rollers, reversing means for reversing the direction of movements imparted to the said feed rollers during a movement always in one direction of the operating shaft, movement transmitting means contained in the other said end chamber for transmitting movements of the said operating shaft to either the upper or lower pairs of the said rollers of the upper and lower sets, the movements so imparted being 1n excess of the movements required to takeup the portions of the strip fed by the feed rollers, and the said means including frictional connections permitting lost motion to compensate for such excess movements, and means in connection with the last said movement transmitting means for changing the driving connection from one pair of each of the sets of rollers to the other pair of each of the sets of rollers.

5. The combination with a substantially rectangular casing comprising side elements, top and bottom elements and end heads, each of the side elements having exhibiting openings therein, the upper exhibiting openings being of lesser width than the lower exhibiting openings, and two partitions one located in proximity to each of the end heads, the said partitions dividing the interior of the casing into three chambers, of a central operating shaft supported by the said partitions and extending through the central chamber into both of the end chambers, two pairs of rollers in the upper portion of the central chamber, arranged horizontally and immediately one above the other, the said upper and lower pairs being arranged to alternatively constitute take-up and supply rollers, exhibiting strips having their opposite ends connected to the said rollers, feed and direction rollers for the said strips arranged to guide portions thereof in proximity to the upper openings in the side casing elements, similar feed and takeup rollers, strips, and direction and feed rollers for the lower portion of the casing, the feed and take-up rollers arranged to guide portions of the latter said strips in proximity to the lower casing openings, movement transmitting means contained 1n one of the said end chambers for transmitting movements from the said operating shaft to the said feed rollers, reversing means for reversing the direction of movements imparted to the said feed rollers during .a movement always in one direction of the operating shaft, movement transmitting means contained in the other said end chamber for transmitting movements of the said operating shaft to either the upper or lower pairs of the said rollers of the upper and lower sets, the movements so imparted being in excess of the movements required to take up the portions of the strip fed by the feed rollers, and the said means including frictional connections permitting lost motion to compensate for such excess movements, and means in connection with the last said movement transmitting means for changing the driving connection from one pair of each of the sets of rollers to the other pair of veach of the sets of rollers, both of the said movement transmitting means including gearing, the speed ratios of which Will cause the movements imparted to the lower feed rollers and to the lower set of take-up rollers to be n excess of the movements imparted to the upper feeolrollers and the upper set of take-up rollers. v

PETER N. STOVBY. ERNEST M. HATCH.

Vtnesses D. HOWARD HAYWooD, LYMAN S. ANDREWS, J r. 

